Sturgeon and Turkish author Elif Shafak
Nicola Sturgeon admitted yesterday that she dislikes the name of her party because she is uncomfortable at being branded a ‘nationalist’.
Despite her lifelong mission for Scottish independence, the country’s First Minister said she was unhappy at being linked to other nationalist movements.
If she could return to before the Scottish National Party was formed, she would remove the ‘negative’ word from its name, she added.
In a wide-ranging discussion with the Turkish author Elif Shafak at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the party leader also claimed that ‘being surrounded by middle-aged men’ in her earlier days in politics affected the way she dressed and behaved.
She said the dominance of men had made her more aggressive and adversarial, traits which she believed were responsible for her reputation as a ‘nippy sweetie’.
Miss Shafak had told the audience the word nationalism has ‘a very negative meaning’ because she has seen ‘how ugly it can get’.
Responding, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘The word is difficult. If I could turn the clock back – what, 90 years – to the establishment of my party and choose its name all over again, I wouldn’t choose the name it has got just now.
‘People say why don’t you change its name now? Well, that would be far too complicated. Because what those of us who do support Scottish independence are all about could not be further removed from some of what you would recognise as nationalism in other parts of the world.’
She claimed that the pro-independence movement in Scotland has ‘a civic, open, inclusive view of the world that is so far removed from what you would rightly fear’.
She added: ‘One of the great motivators for those of us who support Scottish independence is wanting to have a bigger voice in the world – it’s about being outward looking and internationalist, not inward looking and insular. So the word is hugely problematic sometimes.’
A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: ‘The SNP’s problem with nationalism isn’t the name, it’s the whole attitude of the party. Coming up with a more cuddly name wouldn’t change a jot.
‘At heart, it would still be a movement seeking to break up Britain at all costs, and Nicola Sturgeon knows it.’
Miss Shafak had told the audience the word nationalism has ‘a very negative meaning’ because she has seen ‘how ugly it can get’